Events of National & International Importance
Upcoming events at SAARC summit
1.
There will be signing of a slew of agreements between India & Nepal,
which include roadways and railways ties.
2.
It will also include project development agreement and power trading
agreement for the 900MW Upper Karnali hydro electric power project.
3.
On Monday night, the Nepali Cabinet also cleared the agreement for
another 900mw hydel project, called Arun-III, to be signed with India’s Sutlej
Jal Vidyut Nigam.
4.
The $1-billion line of credit announced by India in August will also be
actualised, with a full detail of projects that it will be used for in Nepal.
5.
In addition, the two countries will sign MoUs on traditional medicine and
youth exchanges.
Assembly polls, Phase-I: J&K records over 70% voting; Over 62% voter turnouts
in Jharkhand
1.
Polling for the first phase of assembly elections for 13 seats in
Jharkhand and 15 segments in Jammu and Kashmir ended peacefully today.
2.
Over 70 per cent polling was recorded in the first phase of assembly
elections in Jammu and Kashmir today.
3. Deputy Election Commissioner Vinod Zutshi said, the final figure is likely to go up.
4.
Separatist groups like all factions of Hurriyat Conference and JKLF have
called for a boycott of the polls.
5.
In Jharkhand also, the polling was by and large peaceful. Enthusiasm
for polling in the naxal affected areas of Jharkhand was evident since seven in
the morning when the poll started.
Indian cyclist Deborah creates history; Wins 4 golds in Track
Asia Cup
1. Ms
Deborah, a tribal girl from Andaman and Nicobar Islands has created history in
National Level by winning four Gold Medals in the Track Asia Cup Cycling
Championship 2014 which concluded at Indira Gandhi Stadium, New Delhi.
2. Deborah
won both the two gold medals - in the women's elite keirin and sprint finals -
yesterday on the concluding day of the championship for an overall individual
tally of four gold.
Sri
Lanka presidential polls
1. Sri
Lanka said it will invite foreign monitors to witness the presidential election
in January.
2. According
to Election Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya ,U.N. monitors play a role only if
an election is being held for the first time or if there were serious concerns
over the electoral process.
3. Mr.
Dishapriya said that usually election monitors from Asia, the European Union
and the Commonwealth were invited to see a major election.
4. The
January 8 election will be mainly a contest between President Mahinda Rajapaksa
and his former Minister Maithripala Sirisena.
Legendary Kathak danseuse Sitara Devi passes away
1. Sitara
devi was born Dhannolakshmi in the family of a kathakar Sukhdev Maharaj in
Kolkata in 1920.
2. She
became a Kathak legend and is known as a pioneering force in bringing the genre
to Bollywood.
3. Sitara
Devi impressed Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore with a three-hour solo
recital after her family moved to Mumbai.
4. She
was honored with prestigious awards like Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Padma
Shri and Kalidas Samman.
Ukraine
to hold referendum on joining NATO when it meets criteria
1. Ukraine
President Petro Poroshenko has said that Ukraine will hold a referendum on
joining NATO once it has met certain criteria for membership.
2. President
Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov has accused Nato of breaking a
historic promise by gradually approaching Russia's borders.
3. Alliance
was also attempting to break the balance of power.
4. Three
countries from the former Soviet bloc joined Nato in 1999, followed by several
more in 2004, including Lithuania and the other Baltic states.
5. Fighting
has continued in east Ukraine despite both sides signing a cease fire agreement
on 5th September.
Economic Development
SEBI directs foreign investors to comply with P-Note norms
1.
Amid concerns about possible misuse of Offshore Derivative Instruments-ODI, or P-Notes, for money laundering
and other such purposes.
2.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) directed
foreign investors to ensure compliance with all necessary norms before issuing
such notes with immediate effect.
3.
The SEBI in a circular issued in Mumbai said while existing
ODI positions will be allowed to continue till expiry if they are not in
compliance with the relevant provisions of Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI)
Regulations.
4.
P-Notes are mostly used by overseas High Networth
Individuals- HNIs, hedge funds and other foreign institutions to invest in
Indian markets through registered foreign institutional investors, while saving
on time and costs associated with direct registrations.
5.
However, there have been often concerns about misuse of this
route. The investments through P-Notes rose to nearly seven-year high of over
Rs 2.65 lakh crore at the end of October 2014.
Environment & Ecology
Protecting
Sunderbans ecosystem
1. Sunderbans, a UNESCO world heritage site with
over 300 species of plants 600 species of wildlife, is the home of Royal Bengal
tigers.
2. It is spread over West Bengal and Bangladesh and
has 8 million inhabitants.
3. The present flow of fresh water in the Sunderbans
is insufficient to maintain its unique ecosystem.
4. With additional supply required to save the
archipelago from degradation, a study by Jadavpur University’s School of
Oceanographic Studies (SOS) and IIT Roorkee have revealed.
5. The study is part of the International Union for
Conservation of Nature’s ‘Ecosystem For Life: a Bangladesh-India Initiative’ in
which researchers from both the countries have collaborated.
6. “The pilot study indicates that the present level
of flow is insufficient to maintain the ecosystems and ecosystem services in
Sunderban even at the present level.
7. The study was carried out in two spots in the
archipelago: Swarupganj on the Hooghly and Majdia on the trans-boundary
Ichamati River.
8. It studied
four indicators: the Gangetic dolphins, Sundari trees, Hilsa migration and
navigation.
9. Over the past few years, Sundari trees, from which Sunderbans derives its name, have
dwindled in numbers while the number of salinity-tolerant Avicennia sp has
gone up; sightings of dolphins too have decreased.
Biodiversity & Climate Change
New
robotic study finds dense ice under Antarctic
1.
Sea ice underneath the
Antarctic is thicker than previously thought.
2.
This was discovered by a
first-of-its-kind robotic survey during two expeditions to the continent by
scientists from the US, the United Kingdom and Australia.
3.
The robot, named SeaBed, mapped an area of ice spanning
500,000 square metre (m) at an underwater depth of 20 to 30 m.
4.
The average ice thickness was
found to be between 1.4 m and 5.5 m, with a maximum thickness of 16 m, reports
The Guardian.
5.
Sea ice is an important
indicator of the polar climate but measuring its thickness has been tricky.
6.
This is a game changer because
it was previously very challenging to measure ice depth.
Public Health
Ministry
accepts proposal to ban sale of loose cigarettes
1. The Union Health Ministry has accepted the
proposal to prohibit the sale of loose or single stick of cigarette and
increase the minimum legal age for sale of tobacco products.
2. The proposal mooted by an expert committee set up
by the Ministry has also recommended increasing the fine or penalty amounts for
violations of certain provisions of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products.
3. These offences come under (Prohibition of
Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and
Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA).
4. The proposal is yet to be sent to the Cabinet for
approval as the Health Ministry is still awaiting comments from other ministries.
Editorial
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